With the proliferation in recent years of the use of printed circuit boards for supporting electronic components and precision integrated circuit chips, it has become customary for the printed circuit boards to be shipped long distances for assembly and testing, after which they are transshipped back to the original source for final test and assembly in modules.
The problem arises in regard to providing methods for suitable protection of intensively assembled and highly expensive printed circuit boards while they are undergoing the process of long distance handling and travel in addition to being required to be viewed for customs inspection at various ports of entry and exit.
Considerable problems have arisen in regard not only to mechanical damage due to packing, handling and falling but also damage due to electrostatic discharge and electromagnetic interference which could deteriorate or ruin the quality of the board and its components.
In order to handle this recurrent set of problems which may involve shipments of thousands of packages of printed circuit boards and components, it was considered that some superior and efficient method should be provided not only to protect the shipped and transiting printed circuit boards from mechanical damage and injury but also to protect the boards and their components from the deleterious effects of electrostatic discharge when being handled or inspected by customs agents and also to protect the boards from electromagnetic radiation which could further degrade the boards and the quality of the components inserted thereon.
To this end, there has been developed a packaging procedure and protective wrapping which is designed to obviate and eliminate the types of problems incurred in the transit and handling and inspection and shipping of printed circuit boards.